Ash's First Championship Match

"String Shot and quickly follow with a Tackle!"

"Priii!" Caterpie shot white string from his mouth, tying up the opponent's Rattata before quickly charging forward and slamming it!

"Rattata!" The Pokemon cried out in pain, his eyes now reduced to swirls as his trainer cried out.

"Nooo! Not my top percentage Rattata!" The trainer hung his head in disappointment.

"Way to go, Caterpie!" Zach praised, Caterpie looking quite proud of itself before letting out a cry as his body became engulfed in a blue light as a cocoon formed around him. The light quickly faded to reveal that his Caterpie had evolved into a Metapod!

"Metapod, the Cocoon Pokemon. It's shell is hard but known to break, intense battles should be avoided." Zach's Rotom Phone chimed as Metapod's data was registered.

Zach's opponent soon approached him and handed him his winnings.

"Man that Metapod sure is strong but just you wait, soon as I have a top percentage Raticate I'll find you and ask for a rematch! We won't lose next time," The youngster exclaimed.

"Well good luck with that," Zach smiled, pocketing his winnings before turning to his other Pokemon. "I think I've had enough battles for now so how about we go back to the others?" Riolu and Scorbunny nodded in agreement as Metapod was returned to his Pokeball. Ash and him had been in Lumiose City for a few days now, Ash had spent the time getting to catch up with his old friends while Zach had taken the opportunity to train his Pokemon along with staying out of their way as he felt like he was intruding on their conversations.

As he took a quick stop in the Pokemon Center to heal up Metapod and the others he couldn't help but overhear a conversation that some other trainers were having.

"You're serious? Siebold, the Siebold of the Elite Four is accepting any and all challengers right now?" He heard one of them say.

"Indeed, this is the first year that he's entering the World Championship so he's working hard at getting his ranking up. Some people speculate that he's actually gunning for Diantha's position and merely using this to solidify his strategy!"

"Pardon my asking but where does this Siebold bloke live?" Zach asked as he approached.

"He doesn't live there but he owns the most luxurious restaurant in all of Lumiose! I don't get why you're asking though, a noob like you won't even last two seconds against a guy like him." The trainer's eyes gazed towards Riolu and Scorbunny as he said that, the Fire type's cheeks puffed out as she glared at him.

"I'm just asking for a friend is all, thank you for the information." Zach bowed lightly before heading back to Clemont's apartment to meet up with Ash.


"No way, Siebold's here and accepting challengers?!" Excitement shined brightly within Ash's eyes, he'd never met the Kalos Elite Four other than Malva, nor did he really have the chance to battle them before. This could be a good opportunity for him! His current roster definitely needed some refreshing beforehand of course, not all of his Pokemon were at the same level but he was working on getting there. Besides Oshawott, Snivy and Kubfu deserved a short break from battling and he knew for a fact there were Pokemon back at Oak's just itching to get in a good battle!

"Siebold, eh? I heard his cooking is the best throughout Kalos, I've always wanted to try it!" Bonnie remarked.

"Well why don't you all come watch? It'd be a good opportunity to hang out one last time before Zach and I head off to Galar." Ash offered. Galar was completely new territory for him with all sorts of challengers and new Pokemon awaiting him there and if he wanted to avoid playing catch up with new captures, it was best to head there sooner rather than later. Besides he knew Zach and Riolu were itching to get their first badge and he knew that feeling all too well!

"You mean it?!" Zach and Riolu's eyes lit up, proving Ash's point as the two began shaking with excitement.

"Why not, besides my brother needs to get out of the house more." Bonnie gave her brother a teasing smirk as she said that.

"Good grief, Bonnie!" Clemont groaned out, though he knew she had a point. Between his gym duties and his love for inventions he barely ever went out since returning to Lumiose after the Kalos adventure.

Serena placed her hand on his shoulder in a supportive manner. "Come on, it'll be fun! Just think of all the delicious food we can try, not to mention seeing Ash battling it out with an Elite Four member."

"I have a few calls to make before we get there," Ash said as he looked down at his belt. "Why don't you four go on ahead and I'll meet you there in a bit?" He had some proper team rotation to deal with before heading on out to face Siebold!


Within the hour Ash met up with his friends outside of a rather luxurious restaurant, most of the people passing them by were dressed up in fancy attire that made Ash and his friends stick out due to their more affordable attire.

One of the people passing them by paused for a brief moment, their nose scrunching up as they appeared to be pretending to sniff the air before turning to face their companion.

"I smell poor people," The companion laughed in a rather snobby manner while the man turned to Ash's group with a devilish smirk. He appeared to be the same age as Ash and Zach but had a light skin tone similar to Zach's, his short blonde hair was neatly combed while his eyes had an icy blue gaze to them. He was dressed up in a black suit with a pink ascot draped around his neck. "You ruffians don't belong here, why don't you go to the fast food joint a few corners over? That's more your style."

"Meowth!" An Alolan Meowth chimed in agreement as it said next to it's trainer, giving the group a mocking smirk.

"Hold up, that is a Meowth?!" Zach quickly pulled out his Rotom Phone to scan the creature. "I thought all Meowth were shaggy?"

"Meowth, Alolan form. It's impulsive, selfish, and fickle. When its delicate pride is wounded or when the gold coin on its forehead is dirtied, it flies into a hysterical rage!"

"You're from Galar, aren't you? Should have known a savage such as yourself would have come from that trash heap." The trainer laughed, Zach gritted his teeth in response as he growled lightly. Scorbunny similarly had fire in her eyes as she glared at the snobby rich guy.

"Yeah well-Kalos is too fancy!" Zach tried making a comeback only for the guy to laugh it off as he failed miserably at it.

"Just leave the prick," Bonnie growled out. "We've got an appointment with Siebold."

"Siebold? Ain't no way you're gonna beat hi-Hey get back here, nobody runs away from Chad Buxaplenty!" He shouted after them as they walked off, Bonnie and Serena literally dragging Zach away as he looked as if he was ready to start a battle with the rich prick.

"And voila, a meal fit for two!" The man known as Siebold placed down a dish full of delicious deserts upon a couples table. The couple thanking him before digging on in. Siebold smiled at the sight, the man always enjoyed seeing the admiration that people had for his food along with the excitement they had upon seeing him on the battlefield. Unfortunately none of the challengers he'd faced recently were exciting, all of them ending rather quickly as they mere mostly trainers trying to test their luck against an Elite Four member. Though his eyes soon caught sight of a Pikachu sitting atop a younger man's shoulder, causing him to quickly turn as he wondered if it was possible that was the same Pikachu who faced off against that Alain guy's Charizard years back.

A blip noise from his Rotom Phone seemed to confirm his suspicions as he pulled it out to reveal that Ash Ketchum, one of the former Kalos League's semi-finalists, had come to challenge him. Finally something exciting! Siebold flashed Ash and his friends a warm smile before bowing his head in a respectful manner to which Zach responded by bowing in return.

"Ash Ketchum, I was hoping that the two of us would meet on the battlefield someday!" Siebold smirked. "You sure you don't want to sit down and enjoy a nice meal first though? I don't want you battling on an empty stomach after all."

"Scor!" Scorbunny began drooling at the offer, making an attempt to rush for a nearby buffet before Zach quickly reached down and pulled her into his arms.

"No way, not here. I can't afford to pay for any food you ruin!" Zach hissed out, knowing she was likely to dive face first into something expensive. Scorbunny smiled sheepishly in response while Riolu silently shook his head.

"Ah don't let a little thing like money get to you, you all can eat on the house! It's not every day that I get to face such an exciting opponent after all," Siebold offered up with a smile while his gaze remained focused upon Ash. "So how about the two of us head out onto the battlefield and get things started?"

"Sure thing, I can't wait to get things started!" Ash's clenched his fists with excitement while Pikachu flicked his tail in agreement.

"Scor, scorbun bun!" Scorbunny started squirming wildly within her trainer's grasp as soon as she heard Siebold's offer, causing Zach to sweat before he turned to the others.

"You all go on ahead, I'm gonna let her eat and calm down." Zach informed the others as he carried Scorbunny towards the buffet.

Siebold waved his hand for the rest to follow as he took them into a different part of the restaurant, a battlefield was structured in the center of the room while to the side were a few tables where guests could eat while enjoying the show.

Siebold looked down at his Rotom Phone to check something before looking up in Ash's direction. "Alright, you haven't made any progress at all in your ranking as of yet so the most Pokemon you can use in an official Championship match at the current time is three while the same applies to me during the duration of the fight. A bit of a shame really but should still prove an exciting match! Got your three in mind?"

Ash nodded his head without a word, a grin on his face as he turned his head to Pikachu while his fingers grazed against two other Pokeballs.

"Then take your place on the battlefield and we can get started!" Siebold excitedly took a leap onto the battlefield, twirling through the air before landing on his feet. "Kingdra, time to throw a show!"

A ball was thrown into the air followed by a beam of red light as the fully evolved seahorse Pokemon phased onto the battlefield.

"Whoa, a Kingdra!" Clemont adjusted his glasses as he took a seat. "I never imagined I'd get to see one in person!"

"Kingdra?" Bonnie tilted her head before getting out her Pokedex.

"Kingdra, the Dragon Pokemon. Kingdra lives at extreme ocean depths that are otherwise uninhabited, it has long been believed that the yawning of this Pokemon creates spiraling ocean currents!"

Ash couldn't help but smirk at the sight of Kingdra as he took his place at the other end of the battlefield.

"Goodra I choose you!"

"Gooooodra!" The loveable Dragon Pokemon burst from his ball with a joy filled cry.

"Huh? But I thought Goodra-" Serena started only for Ash to interrupt as he explained.

"I talked it out with Keanan while you guys had a head start, the swamp has more than enough protection with Florges and her friends looking after the place and Goodra's been missing traveling with me so I arranged to have Goodra's Pokeball sent to me from Oak's so Goodra could return and join me once more, for good this time!"

"Makes sense, the release was always silly and unnecessary." Bonnie muttered beneath her breath as Clemont and Serena nodded in agreement.

"A touching reunion but that won't help you here," Siebold snapped his fingers as he ordered an attack. "Kingdra, use Laser Focus then follow up with Hyper Beam!"

Kingdra began concentrating intensely before shortly opening up his mouth to show off the familiar orange-yellow glow before the Pokemon fired off a powerful blast of energy directly at Goodra!

"Bide!" Goodra took the hit head on, the attack proving to be quite powerful as Goodra grit his teeth while he was pushed back by the force of it.

Siebold grit his teeth as he knew that the damage would be dealt back twice as hard once Goodra finished with his move, he'd need to work fast and try to take Goodra out before that!

"Blizzard!" Kingdra opened up his mouth and released a strong icy wind filled with small snow balls that pelted against Goodra, the Dragon type grunting out but refusing to go down as he stood his ground with a determined expression, the purple dragon's body soon began glowing red as he fired off a white energy from his mouth that upon making contact with his opponent sent Kingdra flying back as the Water/Dragon Pokemon went crashing through the wall and into the other half of the restaurant. Scorbunny's face burning bright red as Kingdra had crushed their table, the Fire type began angrily hopping up and down as she cried out in rage.

"Kingdra is unable to battle, Challenger Siebold please send out your next Pokemon or choose to forfeit if you wish to not continue."

Ash jumped up, startled from the unexpected voice as his eyes soon laid upon one of the Rotom Drones that Rose had shown off to him days prior hovering above them. He never heard it arrive so he could only assume Siebold was keeping it here to save time given he was facing a lot of challengers for the Championships lately.

Siebold's gaze rested upon Goodra as a thoughtful expression formed across his face.

"Lapras, time to put on a show!" Siebold threw out another Pokeball as a Lapras appeared on the battlefield, a melodic tune escaping from it's lips.

"Lapras!" Ash's eyes instantly lit up as they took in the sight of the Water/Ice typed Pokemon, briefly reminiscing about his own Lapras and the time they shared together during the Orange Islands.

"Lapras, the Transport Pokemon. These Pokemon were once near extinction due to poaching. Nowadays thanks to protective regulations, there is now an overabundance of them!"

Zach's Rotom Phone spoke up as he scanned the Pokemon before sitting next to Serena and Bonnie, Scorbunny hopped up onto his lap but still had a cross look as she gazed towards their former table but that soon vanished as Riolu offered her a chocolate bar he was carrying, Scorbunny let out a happy cry before digging on into it while the jackal lightly smiled.

"Overabundance?" Ash blinked for a moment before recalling that his Lapras' herd was pursued by pirates due to Lapras being rare during that time frame, now the species was overabundance? Guess a lot can change in seven years, he wondered how his Lapras was doing nowadays with that information in mind.

"Goodra, you still got fight in you?" Goodra turned to Ash and nodded with a smile across his lips.

"Goodra!"

"Alright! Let's use Dragon Pulse!" Goodra opened up his mouth as he began charging up a multi-colored ball of energy within his mouth before firing it off in a dragon-shaped ray of energy! Ash knew the move wouldn't be much effective but Goodra was limited on useful attacks against a Pokemon like Lapras.

"Let's not drag this show out, Surf!" Lapras let out a cry as he was hit by the attack but soon shook his head as he summoned up a massive wave beneath him, which soon came crashing down upon Goodra, the Dragon type being swept away by the powerful wave before disappearing from sight as water flowed through the battlefield.

"Goodra...?" Ash quickly jerked his head around in an attempt to locate the Dragon type only for the water to soon fade away to reveal the defeated form of Goodra as he laid sprawled out on his back with swirls in his eyes.

"Gooodraaaa..."

"You did great Goodra, you've earned a long rest." Ash returned Goodra to his ball with a warm smile before turning to Pikachu. "Ready buddy?"

"Pika!" Pikachu leaped onto the field, his cheeks sparking with excitement as he gazed upon his opponents.

Siebold snapped his fingers while flashing a smirk at his opponents. "Sorry Ash but I can't afford to let your strongest Pokemon compete for too long, Perish Song!" Lapras released crimson soundwaves onto the field while singing a more depressing tune than before, Pikachu's ears flickered as they took in the song. Ash grit his teeth, knowing they had to work fast. He could always switch out Pikachu but Lapras' Ice attacks would be more harmful to his final choice and he needed that Pokemon if he hoped to beat what he knew Siebold had up his sleeves as an ace! Not to mention if that Pokemon went down before taking out Lapras, all he'd need to do was sing and the battle was over! There were no rules stating that Siebold couldn't switch Lapras out to keep him in after all!

"Volt Tackle, quick!"

"Pikapikapika!" Electricity surged around Pikachu as he charged across the battlefield before slamming his electrically charged body into Lapras and knocking him back.

Lapras let out a grunt, shaking his head before glaring at Pikachu.

"Blizzard!" Lapras let out a cry as Pikachu was hit by a powerful icy breeze, his body shivering from the cold but he stood tall and confidently, his cheeks charging up once more as he gave Lapras a smirk.

"Pika..."

"Thunderbolt!"

"Chuuuuu!" The two knew what the other had in mind, Pikachu blasted Lapras with the powerful surge of electricity as the Water/Ice type cried out in pain before shortly collapsing in defeat as his eyes turned to swirls. Siebold didn't look mad or upset, merely impressed as he gazed upon Pikachu.

"I'm honored to get to witness that sort of power first hand but will it be enough to take out my ace before Lapras' song gets to him?" Siebold returned Lapras to his ball while reaching out for another Pokeball. "Blastoise, let's give these guys an excellent finale!"

"Blastoise, toise toise!" Squirtle's final evolution stood tall and proud before them, looking more powerful than even Gary's Blastoise! Ash had never seen one like this before and it'd only get more complicated as he noticed Siebold reaching for his Mega Ring, touching it as Blastoise was engulfed in a bright pink light.

"Blastoise it's time to show everyone our fabulous bond with Mega Evolution!"

"Toise!" Blastoise cried out as the light faded to reveal his Mega Evolution, Mega Blastoise!

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt, let's give it all we got!"

Pikachu grinned as his cheeks sparked, soon blasting Blastoise and giving him quite the jolt as he was blasted with the powerful electric attack.

"Toise!" Blastoise gritted out as electricity surged through his body though much to Ash's chagrin it appeared that didn't put as much a dent into Blastoise as he had hoped.

"Pi...ka...chu..." Perish song had gotten to Pikachu and he collapsed to the floor in a defeated heap with Ash soon scooping his best friend up into his arms. Ash walked back to his place on the field and placed Pikachu down before reaching for his final Pokemon's Pokeball.

"Sceptile, I'm counting on you!"

"Scep!" Ash's strongest Grass type emerged from his ball, flashing his trainer a smirk before focusing his attention on his opponents.

"Leaf Storm!"

"Scep... tile!" Sceptile stretched out his arms as he became surrounded by a large number of glowing green leaves before the thrusted his arms out, causing the leaves to fly at Blastoise and strike him!

Blastoise gritted his teeth while Siebold raised his brow with an impressed look. "Not bad but you'll have to work harder than that, Hydro Pump!" All of Mega Blastoise's many canons began firing off a large burst of water that pelted Sceptile, causing the Grass type to grunt and gasp out for air as the water struck against his face. It proved to have dealt some serious damage despite the type disadvantage but Ash wasn't going to let something like the lack of Mega Evolution cause him to call it quits.

"Agility then follow up with Leaf Blade!" The leaves on Sceptile's wrists glowed bright green as he rushed his opponent and began repeatedly slashing at him.

"Giga Impact!"

Mega Blastoise's body became surrounded in a purple aura, yellow stripes of aura spiraling around the purple aura, as he rushed his opponent and made an attempt to slam against him!

"Use Agility to dodge!" Sceptile swiftly evaded the attack right in the nick of time as Blastoise went charging on past him before crashing head first into a wall behind him.

"Toise!" Blastoise grunted out before retracting his head into his shell and backing up, an exhausted look upon his face as Ash was quickly hit with the reminder that Giga Impact had a brief recharge time after use, much like Hyper Beam. Giving him another window of opportunity to attack!

"Leaf Blade as much you can!" Sceptile swiftly moved across the field, slicing at Blastoise's belly as the Mega Evolution grunted and flinched from the pain, tiredness soon became visible as it became clear they were weakening him!

"Ice beam the battle field!" Siebold tossed out his arm as he ordered the command, Blastoise obliging as he shot out the icy beam and coated the battlefield in a thick coating of ice, making it more difficult for Sceptile to maneuver or so Siebold thought.

"Bullet Seed!"

"Sceptile!" Sceptile cried out before opening his mouth and firing off a barrage of seeds at high velocity, striking Blastoise with great precision from across the field. The Mega Evolution began growing weak in the knees as Siebold snapped his fingers before twirling about.

"We're not about to give up yet, Water Pulse!"

"T-Toise!" Blastoise took aim at Sceptile, preparing to fire only for a leg to give out and causing him to aim directly at the ground in front of him. Blastoise soon blasted himself straight up into the air, giving Ash a clear opening as he shouted out.

"Bullet Seed!"

"Tile!" Sceptile began firing off another barrage of bullets that made contact with Blastoise within the air, soon the Water type came crashing down to the ground with a heavy loud and kicking up a cloud of dust while a pink light was visible through the dust, making it clear that Ash had won and indeed that proved to be true as the Rotom Drone announced.

"Blastoise is unable to battle, Challenger Ash Ketchum is the victor!"

"Alright, we did it! We beat our first Elite Four member!" Ash shouted out from sheer excitement over his major accomplishment.

"Sceptile!"

"Pi Pikachu!" His Pokemon cried out in celebration.

Ash immediately wanted to go and challenge Malva or make an attempt at tracking down Wikstrom or Drasna, but he reminded himself that he needed to focus on training up his other Pokemon first. It wouldn't be fair if he only gave Pokemon like Sceptile, Charizard, and Greninja attention after all! Pokemon like Oshawott, Kubfu and Gible still had some work to do before they could hold even ground with the rest!

"That was a well fought match, I had a marvelous time!" Siebold extended his hand to Ash with a warm smile. "Perhaps we can meet again and have a full match once you've obtained a higher rank? Of course the result will be very much different!"

Ash paused for a moment, realizing that he made a lot of promises to rematch or even just plain battle trainers over the years and never went through with it. This time would be different, he was going to make sure he stayed true to his word and battled anyone he promised to, even the ones he'd forgotten over the years! "You're on, hopefully I'll have Mega Evolution by then too!" Ash grinned as the two shook hands.

"All that battling sure cooked up an appetite though, how about we sit down and enjoy a nice meal?" Siebold offered up.

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Ash remarked as his stomach rumbled loudly, causing them to laugh.


"You sure you can't stick around a bit longer?" Bonnie begged with a hopeful expression, not wishing for her friend to leave her once again. Ash let out a light chuckle before patting her head lightly.

"I already made a promise that we'd go to Galar to get Zach his first badge, besides I'll be back sooner or later to try and find a Keystone."

"You'll have to look extra hard cause Riolu and I also want one," Zach reminded him. "So best of luck to whoever finds it first, eh?" Riolu nodded with an eager expression.

"Well good luck on your journey and your respective goals," Clemont wished them a farewell as Serena nodded her head in agreement.

"And be safe!"

"Good luck with your goal too, Serena. I'm sure you'll be the Kalos Queen in no time!" Ash grinned. "And you too, Bonnie. I'm sure you'll do well at the Kalos League!"

"No doubt, I had the best trainer in the world as my mentor." Bonnie smirked at Ash before turning to Zach with a teasing smirk. "And you, you didn't talk much but I did see you eyeing girls a lot. I wish you luck on getting one, I'm sure you'll have better luck than my brother did."

"Bonnie!" Clemont gasped out while Zach's face shot bright red from embarrassment as he grabbed a hold of Ash's arm to drag him away.

"Right then, we're out of here!" Zach spoke out.

"See ya soon, hopefully!" Ash called back to his Kalos friends with a wave of his hand.


"Colress I presume?"

Colress looked up from his prison food tray as he heard his name spoken. "Can I help you, sir?" He asked, finding it quite odd that a prison guard would be approaching him like this. He stayed well away from his old gang and hardly interacted with anyone to have caused him suspicion.

"I know you studied under a Mr. Yung once, any idea where I might find him?"

Colress' expression suddenly changed to that of fear. "Trust me you want nothing to do with that guy, he's bad news! You should see his experiments, the things he has planned... Arceus only knows what he's done while I've been rotting in this hellhole the past four years!"

"Oh I very much know what I'm in for," The guard leaned forward to reveal Pierce's menacing face as he leered directly into the former Plasma member's eyes. "So I suggest you tell me where you think he's hiding or else I'll tell your former boss that you're planning on snitching out his associates, we'll see how long you last after that."

"No please-I'm a changed man, I-"

"Do it!" Pierce hissed out. "I don't ask twice!"

Colress took a gulp, shifting his eyes left to right before focusing his attention on Pierce once more. "He's with Macro Cosmos!"

Pierce raised his eyebrow before letting out a laugh. "He's meddling with the Dynamax phenomenon is he? Well then this should be interesting, I just happen to know three buffoons stationed within the region. Time to go check up on them!"

Ash beat Siebold.

Next time, Marnie and more Galar Pokemon!